Adaptive Building Envelope

Performative Water-filled ETFE Cushions

Designing a multi-functional building envelope as an architectural façade, environmental interface and Solar Collector is a multi-objective exploration that should be solved through an Integrated Design Strategy. The main research question is how the thermal and optical properties of the facade component can be improved to increase comfort, reduce energy demand as well as gain more solar energy.
This research evaluates different concepts to implement the water inside a multi-layer ETFE cushion to make a dynamic envelope component. An air cavity in the multi-layer cushion serves as an insulation layer to control the thermal conductivity; and water can absorb solar energy (Infrared: 780-2500 nm) intelligently.
Inspired by the human skin and the blood circulation responding to heat and cold stress, in a comprehensive approach, every multi-layer cushion of this envelope has a great possibility of interacting dynamically between buildings elements and the environment. Regulating the thermal (U-value and SHGC) and visual (shading fraction) properties of the components would be complimented by a controlling pneumatic system to adjust the direction and the amount of heat flow by manipulating the shape and thickness of cavities for different climatic conditions.
Finally, With regard to the simulation results of a typical office building in Dubai, Tehran and Stuttgart, this paper demonstrates the efficiency of multi-layer ETFE cushion and water-filled ETFE cushion as intelligent dynamic system to provide thermal and visual comfort as well as reduce the energy demand and harvest solar radiation.

Project mentor: Jochen Lam

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Abolfazl Ganji Kheybari – Iran

Abolfazl Ganji Kheybari – Iran

Following his Bachelor in Civil Engineering Abolfazl graduated with a Master Degree in Architectural Technology. “Performative Design of Building Envelope through Algorithmic Development of Iranian Geometric Pattern: The Return of Tectonic Ornament” is the title of his thesis as Ph.D. Candidate at the Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch Teheran.